


The Waiting Game

by Anonymous



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 02:58:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/





	The Waiting Game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flipflop_diva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/gifts).



Kenna had longed for her family regularly since she’d left them to become one of Mary’s lady in waiting. It’d grown from there, a gaping hole she’d never truly fill, and as much as she’d tried to forge her own path in France, first with Mary and the other Scottish ladies, then with her attempts to become King Henry’s mistress it never managed to replace Linlithgow in truth. Yet, despite her efforts to bring wealth and position to her Scottish name and the numerous letters that she’d sent to her family overseas, she’d never heard a reply.

It pained her in a way she’d never expected. Certainly her father and her mother both had informed her of her duties as both a daughter of their line _and_ a lady in waiting for the Queen of Scotland, but she’d never expected to be cast off so completely the moment she’d left with Mary’s other ladies for their new home. She was to marry a man of title and station, secure her family’s position within both the French and Scottish courts, and produce heirs for her husband. The fate of all noble girls, it was true, but for her it felt quite like a prison.

Yet the most insulting part of it all was not that she’d been expected to forge the road most traveled when she’d shunned that path since she was a child. Her parents had never understood her and her whims fully. She’d wanted to be a soldier, once, until her mother and the nuns had ~~beaten~~ talked her out of that, and she’d resolved to be the best daughter she could. However, second daughters are not made for that either, it seems, and she’d gone wanting.

But, no, that was not what hurt her heart and broke her spirit the most, in the end. It was that they’d promised to **write** her every holiday and for no reason at all. _Letters upon letters_ , her father and elder brother had claimed, filling her head with promises that could not be kept in truth. However, she’d held onto their words, first as a little girl, and then as she grew older and more jaded there was a small part of her that’d held desperately to that promise.

She practiced her penmanship, spent extra time with her letters and on increasing her vocabulary and yet, nothing. Each day that’d passed without a word or comment on how she was progressing in French court felt like a fresh dagger to her heart and she was abandoned anew. 

She’d never felt lonelier than when King Henry had married her off to his **bastard** at sword point. Sebastian wanted as little to do with her as she did him, no wonder, really, when she’d had his father inside of her while he pined after Mary, her queen and friend. A forced family and yet they were far more suitable and responsive than her own.

It took some time, but in the end, Sebastian, no, she was to call him Bash now, had found one another. She’d never met a man as lonely as she, but it seemed the royal bastard lived a life as isolated as her own. Vying for his father’s favor, which was fickle even before his sanity left him, left him wanting.

And his mother, well, his mother was always a schemer, even before she had been banished from court. However, from her minimal interactions with the woman—when they both weren’t fighting one another for King Henry’s bed, if not his affections, showed that she did love her son.

Not that it mattered now. With Henry dead and Francis their new king, Catherine could finally be rid of Diane de Poitier, if not her son.

She would never ask, too much ill will between her and Diane that the memory would only serve to break the fragile trust between them, but sometimes Kenna wondered if he missed his mother.

“Bash, have you had any letters?” Kenna asked as she heard the door to their shared chambers opened. It was about that time of day, when Bash would come back from his work as the King’s Deputy, and they would repeat the cycle. She knew it was silly and foolish of her, and yet a small part of her hoped for a word.

“No, not today, Kenna,” Bash replied, kindly. He was always so gentle with this matter, even though he had not been told of her thoughts regarding her parents’ lack of response, she was certain by now that he suspected this was the cause of her frustration.

“Well, perhaps tomorrow, then. I have another letter to send to Scotland for when you go,” Kenna said. 

"Why bother?” Bash asked, his voice raised. She frowned in response. Why bother? It was a simple question for a man, but for a woman it was quite difficult. Despite his status as a bastard, he had never grown up wanting, and had he wished his mother here, Kenna was certain Francis would ignore his mother and allow it. 

“It's not like they will read it anyway. And even if they do, they won't send you a response," Sebastian continued. She recoiled at the observation. They might be poor parents, but they had managed to secure her station here in France, at least.

“They’re my family, Sebastian. At some point they will fulfill their duty and respond…“

“You do not know that, Kenna.”

“I…”

“No, Kenna. I hear you at night, crying when you think I am asleep. They are terrible people and do not deserve you. Please, throw the letter in the fire. It is past time that we create our own family, together.” 

Kenna smiled at him, touched that he noticed her frustration, although she had gone to great lengths to hide it. She then threw the paper in the fire after and took his proffered hand in hers and kissed his cheek. A new family. Kenna quite liked the sound of that.


End file.
